Teacher Salaries and Contracts

I'm not sure if this has been a trend across the country, but I couldn't help but notice that while the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is negotiating teacher contracts in NYC, the new Governor of New Jersey and the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) are already at odds after the Governor announced a $475 million cut in aid to schools.  I think that it is interesting that everyone wants to hold teachers accountable for the success of schools through student academic performance on standardized test scores (see: previous post), but when cuts have to be made to state and/or city budgets, teacher pay is often the target of the cuts. 

According to an article in the NYTimes, the Mayor of NYC is not only trying to cut sick days in half and link pay more closely to performance, but is also proposing a limit to teacher raises to 2 percent a year (in contrast to annual raises of 4 percent to the majority of the city's unions). Now, I can already see the issue with this. If the rest of the city workers are receiving a 4 percent increase, they have 4 percent more to spend; whereas, teachers will only have 2 percent more. When you take inflation into account, this becomes an even bigger issue. 

In New Jersey, the cuts are not only effecting teacher salaries, but also teacher pensions. The Governor is also pushing for higher health insurance contributions (thereby reducing net pay) and pushing merit pay.  Merit pay would give even more weight to standardized test scores - unless of course, merit pay will be based on something else. 

If you were a teacher, and your pay was not increasing at the same rate as inflation and/or your benefits (sick days, pension, and health insurance) were being cut, what would you do? Do people really wonder why there is a shortage of teachers? The pay is already low enough considering that most districts, if not all, require that teachers are not only certified, but also have a relevant Master's degree. Now, they want to keep pay from increasing as much as other fields? 

I am sure that new teachers are put off by these cuts. It all comes down to how low a teacher is willing to be paid. At what point will the majority of teachers begin to look for other opportunities? Or at what pay point will the older teachers, who are near retirement, decide to retire instead of continue to teach? I think that people who are negotiating teacher contracts should realize that some of their most effective teachers may decide to leave the profession because of these cuts. Aren't there other areas in the school system that could be cut instead? 


How do people expect teachers to be held accountable for student academic achievement if teachers are not being supported?? I want to see what NYC and NJ contracts look like at the end of their respective negotiations. I would also love to analyze data that looks at teacher retention that highlights key contract changes. 

Teacher Salaries and Contracts